Wildlife Photography Contest by Wild Nature Photography

I have been trying to come up with a way to share with all of you some of my current favorite books on photography, and just a few days ago it struck me to create a very simple contest where I could give away some of these books, plus a few other special items, in exchange for getting you to share some of your own wildlife photography with me and the rest of my readers.

So here is the first, semi-regular, Wildlife Photo Contest by Wild Nature Photography.

There are no gimmicks and no gotchas. You retain ALL RIGHTS to your own images, ONLY the winners agree to have their images featured on this website as winners of the contest; and that is it!

I will pick 5 winners, first, second and third places, plus two honorable mentions. Winners will chose from the prizes offered, first choice given to the first place winner, then the second place winner gets to pick from the remaining items, and so on.

Here are the items I will be giving away:

1 BodyBag from my friends at LensCoat

1 copy of “88 Secrets to Wildlife Photography” by my friend Scott Bourne of Photofocus.com

1 brand new LowePro Rover Plus AW

1 copy of Joe McNallys excellent book “The Hot Shoe Diaries”

1 copy of Joe McNallys “The Moment It Clicks”

1 copy of David duChemins ” Within the Frame”

The rules are very simple.

• Submit up to 3 images to our Flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/wildnaturephoto/
• This competition is restricted to images of wildlife, and by wildlife we mean animal wildlife, not the human kind
• No “hand of man” may be visible in the images
• Images MUST be submitted by midnight (GMT -5, or US Eastern Time) on August 16th, 2009
• Winners will be announced on August 20, 2009
• I, and I alone get to select the winners
• One prize per person
• No whining, grumbling, protesting, fussing, or moaning about who the winners are or are not
• Contest is open to any amateur (must make less than 50% of your income from photography) wildlife photographers in the world, however shipping of your prize may not exceed $30USD, if shipping of your prize to your country exceeds $30USD from my location in the US then you forfeit the prize (sorry I need to keep costs under control), but you will still be considered a winner of the contest.
• You agree only to submit images that YOU yourself took, and which you own. Potential winners may be asked to submit proof of ownership
• By submitting your images to the Flickr group indicated above you agree to allow us to feature your winning image on our blog, SHOULD YOU BE ONE OF THE SELECTED WINNERS
• I make no guarantees or promises, and I alone make the final decisions on any prize eligibility, and no method of dispute resolution is provided
• You and you alone are responsible for any taxes, import duties or other fees related to the prizes
• Sorry for some of the more ominous sounding rules, but this is just how it has to be

I will be providing updates via Twitter, you do not need to follow me to participate in the contest, but you may find it worth while.

You can follow me via twitter at http://twitter.com/jpons

Looking forward to seeing your images!

-J